Past Events

Limericker Literaturgespräche

19 April 2018 Gabrielle Alioth

Room: D1049, Time: 5:00pm

Swiss-Irish writer Gabrielle Alioth has been a great friend of the Centre over years and has been giving a number of wonderful readings. She will return again on 28th February and read and discuss her novel Die entwendete Handschrift (Basel: Lenos 2016) and other Irish-German (Swiss) writing.

6 April 2018 Dmitrij Kapitelman

Room: tbc Time: 9.30am

The German-Ukranian-Jewish novelist and Zeit journalist Dmitrij Kapitelman will visit UL to read from his book Das Lächeln meines unsichtbaren Vaters (The smile of my invisible father), for which he received the Klaus-Michael-Kuehne-Preis of the Harbour Front Literaturfestival in 2016. The book is about his and his father’s search for identity, which leads both of them to Israel. Kapitelman’s stay in Ireland is organised by the Centre and supported by the DAAD writer-in-residence programme (which will bring Dmitrij Kapitelman also to UCD, UCC and NUI Galway).

21 March 2018 Anna Weidenholzer

D1049, Time: 5:00pm

The Austrian journalist and writer Anna Weidenholzer comes to UL to present her book Weshalb die Herren Seesterne tragen, which was selected for the longlist of the German Book Price in 2016. The book is about Karl, a retired teacher who sets out to question people about their life satisfaction. Soon his journey seems like an escape and the questioner inevitably becomes an object of questioning himself. The visit is organised by our Austrian Lektor Natascha Guggi and is supported by the Austrian Embassy

14 February 2018 Jan Wagner and Matthew Sweeney

Room: D1049, Time: 5:30pm

Acclaimed Irish poet Matthew Sweeney and prize winning German poet Jan Wagner (Preis der Leipziger Buchmesse 2015 and Georg-Büchner-Preis 2017) will visit UL to read from Sweeney’s newest collection of poems which was translated into German by Wagner and published as Hund und Mond (Dog and Moon). The book was chosen as ‘Buch des Monats’ (Book of the month) by the Darmstädter Jury and has been praised for its surreal approach to everyday life.

Commemoration for Eoin Bourke

As many of you already know, our dear friend and colleague, Emeritus Professor Eoin Bourke of NUI Galway, who was Adjunct Professor at our Centre, passed away in late December. To honour his memory and celebrate his life and many achievements we are holding a commemoration event on Thursday, February 15th (3pm-6pm) in the Millstream Common Room. Colleagues, friends and family members will pay tribute and recall one of the towering figures in Irish-German Studies and a key academic in German Studies in Ireland and Great Britain. Anyone who would like to attend please contact Gisela.Holfter@ul.ie and christiane.schonfeld@mic.ul.ie .

28 September 2016

University of Limerick, Room MC2005, 9.30 – 13.00

Colloquium

„What Could Germany Do for Ireland?“: German Dimensions of 1916

Speakers:

Jérôme aan de Wiel (UCC) "We have no idealistic interest in Ireland and no revolution, no rifles"; Imperial Germany's half-hearted attempts to support Irish republicans, 1904-1919

Joachim Fischer (UL), Ireland under German rule: Two Irish dystopias of 1916/17

Angus Mitchell (Limerick), On the wrong side of history: Roger Casement and Germany

Connections in Motion: Dance in Irish and German Literature, Film and Culture

This interdisciplinary and international conference will explore Irish-German connections through dance and other forms of movement in places, institutions and media from the 1920s to today. It is organized by the Irish Centre of Transnational Studies (Mary Immaculate College) and Centre of Irish-German Studies (University of Limerick) in collaboration with the Irish World Academy for Music and Dance, and the School of Architecture, University of Limerick.

Agents through Time: How Do People “Make History”?
Social Psychological & Historical Research into Collective Memories, Social Identities & Intergroup Relations
COST ACTION IS1205 CONFERENCE. COST is supported by the EU Framework Programme Horizon 2020

International conference organized within the framework of Cost Action IS1205 “Social Psychological dynamics of historical representations in the enlarged European Union”
(http://costis1205.wix.com/home) and hosted by the Department of Psychology, University of Limerick, in collaboration with the Department of History and the Centre for Irish-German Studies, University of Limerick.

Organized by the Centre for Irish-Germany Studies and the Department of Physics and Energy, supported by INSPIRE

Dr Michael Eckert is the author of the first English biography on theoretical physicist Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951). Sommerfeld is famous as a quantum theorist for the elaboration of the semi-classical atomic theory (Bohr-Sommerfeld model, Sommerfeld's fine-structure constant), he also left his mark in the history of mathematics, fluid mechanics, a number of physical subdisciplines and, in particular, as founder of a most productive "school" (Peter Debye, Wolfgang Pauli, Werner Heisenberg, Linus Pauling and Hans Bethe were his pupils, to name only the Nobel laureates among them). In his lecture Dr Eckert will also refer to the little known links Sommerfeld had with Ireland.

Translated into English by Hans-Christian Oeser; Gabriel Rosenstock a d’aistrigh go Gaeilge

Baile Átha Cliath: Coiscéim, 2015

Followed by the annual Mulled Wine Reception of the Centre for Irish-German Studies will take place in the East Room, Plassey House, University of Limerick.Organised by the Centre for Irish-German Studies in conjunction with the Goethe-Institut Dublin. The support of the School of Modern Languages and Applied Linguistics, the School of Culture and Communication and University of Limerick Arts Office is gratefully acknowledged.

Nadja Küchenmeister was born on April, 18th 1981 in East Berlin, where she lives and works today. She studied German and Sociology at the Technical University of Berlin and at the German Institute of Literature in Leipzig, where she also taught. She has published poetry and prose in anthologies and journals and has written plays and features for radio.

"In her first book of poetry Nadja Küchenmeister presents herself as a unique lyrical voice that sounds gentle and composed even though she seems to emerge straight from the purgatory between love and death. Since Ingeborg Bachmann no one has addressed a thou, herself or the reader more intensely, more questioningly." (Dorothea von Törne, Die Welt)

"Her lyrical language, the skilful composition of motifs and sounds, with such high expectations of verse and stanza, is like an incantation of perished, or at least imperilled, forms of poetic expresssion and, with them, of a spiritual habitat." (Hans-Herbert Räkel, Süddeutsche Zeitung)

"Again and again it is a heartening experience when in today’s poetry we hear a new tone, a breath and sound all of its own. This is the case with Nadja Küchenmeister. Her poems make us sit up and take notice. They are gentle and yet daring, precise and yet dreamy, and they play in superior fashion with traditional forms. Hers is an authentic voice to watch out for." (Manfred Papst, Neue Zürcher Zeitung am Sonntag)

"With a distinctive sense of form, Nadja Küchenmeister in her new book of poetry Unter dem Wacholder sketches atmospheric pictures of both lost and fulfilled moments, conquering the space of tradition with ease and gentle determination." (Jury, Bremer Literaturpreis)

Gabriel Rosenstock is an Irish language poet and translator, has published more than 170 titles. Many of his own books have been translated into other languages. A member of Asodána, he lives in Co. Dublin.

Hans-Christian Oeser, born in Wiesbaden, works as a literary translator and editor and has translated numerous Irish authors into German. Together with Gabriel Rosenstock he has published a baker’s dozen of contemporary German language poets.

Conference at the University of Limerick in cooperation with the Centre for Irish-German Studies. Supported by AHSS.

Incl. Reading & Discussion withRenate Ahrens (Dublin/Hamburg) on her current project „Fragen an die Nacht“ on three generations of a Jewish family in Dublin (29 May). Followed by a reception supported by the German Embassy.

Plassey House, UL.

20-22 May 2015 “Women and Ageing: New Cultural and Critical Perspectives”

A conference organised by Dr Cathy McGlynn, Dr Maggie O’Neill (School of Culture and Communication) and Dr Michaela Schrage-Früh. Supported by the Centre for Irish-German Studies.

University of Limerick.

March 2015 - Judith Hermann as DAAD writer-in-residence in UL.

Organized by Dr Michaela Schrage-Früh, Centre for Irish-German Studies and School of ML&AL.

29 May 2014 Reading by German author Hans Pleschinski; 7pm in Plassey House, University of Limerick

This reading is part of the 2014 international conference of the Association for Intercultural German Studies (Gesellschaft für Interkulturelle Germanistik) Begegnung in Transiträumen / Transitorische Begegnungen. The conference will take place from 29 May to 1 June 2014 at Mary Immaculate College, Limerick and is co-organised by Dr Sabine Egger, Dept. of German Studies, MIC. It is hosted by the Centre for Transnational Studies at MIC.

For the programme see: http://www.ictstudies.eu/internationale-tagung-der-gesellschaft-fur-interkulturelle-germanistik-gig/

10 February 2014 Lecture by Prof. em. Eoin Bourke “German Travellers in Ireland in the 19th century”; 10.30am in B1005

7/8 November 2013 14th Limerick Conference in Irish-German Studies
A context of ‘Kristallnacht’: Ireland and the German-speaking refugees 1933-45 – A colloquium on German-speaking exiles, Irish helpers and the national and international contexts 75 years ago

Organisers: Centre for Irish-German Studies, University of Limerick and BBAW in collaboration with the Irish Embassy, Berlin

12th Conference in Irish-German Studies 6-7 May 2011

Goethe-Institut Irland, Dublin

“Contemporary German-Irish cultural relations in a European Perspective:

Exploring issues in cultural policy and practice”

A conference to mark 50 years Goethe-Institut Irland

Organisers: Centre for Irish-German Studies, University of Limerick and Goethe-Institut Irland

28-29 March 2011
A special role for literature? Literatur in der DDR (und Irland)
International Colloquium with a special focus on teaching GDR literature
With German Book-Prize Winner Kathrin Schmidt

Monday, 28 March 2011
From 3.00pm on Registration outside Wood Room, Plassey House

4pm - Welcome
Keynote lecture Eda Sagarra (Dublin) - 'The Federal Republic of Germany: a retrospective' followed by discussion and official announcement of Adjunct Professorship at the Centre for Irish-German Studies

25 February
Eighth Ralahine Utopian Studies Workshop University of Limerick
“Visions of Europe – Irish perspectives”
Jointly organised by Ralahine Centre for Utopian Studies, the Centre for European Studies and the Centre for Irish-German Studies

11 March
Business German in Ireland Working Group German Embassy
"Vorsprung durch Deutsch"

3.00pm – Chairs Danielle Martin (Shannon College) / Andreas Damm (UL)
The Situation of Current Students and New Developments in Business German
Rosanna Molloy (WIT)
and chairs of the earlier sessions – summary of main points made earlier and action plan

11th Conference of the Centre – 300 years Palatines in Ireland – September 2009
To mark the tercentenary of the arrival of Palatine settlers in Co. Limerick the Centre hosted a conference on the Palatines in Ireland on 4/5 September 2009. The event included a visit to the Palatine Museum in Rathkeale. Among the speakers was Dr Patrick O’Connor, author of People Make Places: The Story of the Irish Palatines (1989).

Concert with Clara Schumann songs
This event was a unique opportunity to listen to Clara Schumann songs performed by Elisabeth Goell. She was accompanied on a piano that was made for and owned by Clara Schumann and has been in Co. Donegal for more than one hundred years. The concert which took place on 7 February 2009 in the City Gallery in Perry Square, Limerick was organised by the Centre for Irish-German Studies in cooperation with the Irish World Academy for Music and Dance and the Arts Office in Limerick.
Irish-German Musical Event - 4.2.2009, University of Limerick

By Margarethe Gerhardt and Gerhardt Gallagher. At the Glucksman Library, University of Limerick, 2nd – 24th October 2008. Opening of exhibition 2nd October 2008 in the Gluckman Library groundfloor at 4pm by David Lilburn, all welcome.

3rd October
German Re-unification Day

Joint venture with Doras in the Granary Library, Limerick. Participants came to listen to talks by Dr Gisela Holfter and Dr Joachim Fischer on connections between Germany and Ireland and enjoyed a reading by celebrated Irish-German author Hugo Hamilton. Friday, 3rd October, 12.30-2pm.

8 April 2008 Dr Susan Cohen'German academic women refugees and the British Federation of University Women, 1933- 1943'
Susan Cohen is an Honorary Fellow at the Parkes Institute for Jewish/non-Jewish Relations at the University of Southampton. She has contributed numerous biographical articles to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, and had papers published in numerous journals, including Patterns of Prejudice, History Today and the Yearbook of the Research Centre for German and Austrian Exile Studies. She is currently researching the role of women within British refugee organisations operating during the Nazi period ' German academic women refugees and the British Federation of University Women, 1933- 1943'

4 April 2008 His Excellency, the Austrian Ambassador Dr Walter Hagg
“Österreichisch-Irische Beziehungen und die aktuelle Situation in der EU”
Dr Walter Hagg became the new Austrian Ambassador in July 2007. Dr Hagg studied law at Vienna University. Following postings in the Austrian embassies in Rome and Paris he became Director and Head of Southern Europe Department: Italy, Holy See, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Turkey, Cyprus, Malta. He was Austrian Ambassador to Luxembourg 2003-2007. He speaks English, French, Italian and some Russian and he received numerous high decorations inter alia from Austria, Italy (Grand Cross), France, Greece, Portugal.

7 March 2008 Prof Liliane Weissberg
"Hannah Arendt, Charlie Chaplin, and the Hidden Jewish Tradition"
Liliane Weissberg is Professor of German and Comparative Literature at the University of Pennsylvania. She is also a member of the Centre in Folklore and Ethnography, the Jewish Studies Program, the Art History Graduate Group, and the Advisory Committee in Women's Studies.
Weissberg's interests focus on late eighteenth-century to early twentieth-century German literature and philosophy, and interdisciplinary studies. Much of her work has concentrated on German, European, and American Romanticism, but she has also written on the notion of representation in realism, on photography, and on literary and feminist theory. Her most recent books are a critical edition of Hannah Arendt's Rahel Varnhagen: The Life of a Jewess (1997), which has received much attention, and the anthologies, Cultural Memory and the Construction of Identity (with Dan Ben-Amos, 1999) and Romancing the Shadow: Poe and Race (with J. Gerald Kennedy, 2001).

In 2007 we commemorate Heinrich Böll's 90th birthday. It is also the 50th anniversary of the first publication of his Irisches Tagebuch. Böll, who viewed Ireland as a kind of second home and who regularly spent time here after 1954, published in 1957 eighteen impressions (some of which had been in an earlier version previously appeared in the FAZ or other magazines) that form the Irisches Tagebuch, an unqualified success among critics and the reading public alike. Still today, German tourists read the book in preparation to their travels in Ireland and it is nearly impossible to overstate its influence. In academic writing it is described a "cult book" that created a wave of enthusiasm for Ireland. It has sold about 2 million copies and has influenced German impressions of Ireland like no other work. The conference concentrated not only on Böll but on Irish-German relations of the last 50 years and it also reflected on 10 years work of the Centre for Irish-German Studies at the University of Limerick (the 1st conference and the founding of centre took place in September 1997). Among the contributors to the conference were be Rene Böll, Heinrich's son, the Irish-German writer Hugo Hamilton, the German Ambassador H.E. Christian Pauls, the Irish Ambassador in Berlin H.E. David Donoghue, Senator Dr Martin Mansergh and John Gormley, TD, Imogen Stuart and many others.

The Centre for German-Irish Studies was delighted to host a Guest lecture by the Director of the Goethe Institute in Dublin, Mr Rolf Stehle. "The Goethe-Institut is the cultural institute of the Federal Republic of Germany with a global reach. It promotes knowledge of the German language abroad and fosters international cultural cooperation. It further conveys a comprehensive picture of Germany by providing information on Germany's cultural, social and political life." (cf.Goethe Institut Dublin)